Several applications have been developed that contain a location-based condition determined for a message for the presentation of the message. Such messages are for example regional advertisements that can be transmitted to a device carried by the user, and when the user arrives to a certain location, for example in the vicinity of a store, a restaurant, a service station, or the like, this is indicated in the device of the user. The person in question may have determined conditions for presenting different messages in his or her device, wherein when he or she approaches a location in relation to which he or she has determined a message to be presented, said message is presented in the device. The person may determine for example a reminder to visit a certain hardware store, wherein when the user approaches said hardware store, this is indicated in the device of the user.
To enable the above-presented arrangements, positioning must be conducted in the device at intervals so that the location of the device is known also when the user is moving. In solutions of related art, positioning must be conducted relatively often, several times a minute, or even tens of times a minute, so that the positioning is sufficiently accurate and occurs in real time. Typically positioning is conducted by means of a positioning receiver arranged for this purpose, said receiver determining its location on the basis of the signals transmitted by the satellites of the positioning system. Positioning systems that can be mentioned in this context are for example the GPS system and the GLONASS system. Applications have also been developed in which the positioning is conducted for example by means of the base stations of a mobile communication network, or a wireless local area network. In some cases the mobile communication network performs the positioning of the device and transmits information thereon to the device.
One of the drawbacks in such continuous positioning is for example that it increases the power consumption of the device, which, especially in portable devices, can restrict the availability of positioning and shorten the operating time of the device. Furthermore, especially the positioning information obtained from the mobile communication system may be subject to charge, wherein positioning may be expensive.